


Like a rubber band snapping back

by selenologist



Category: Gintama, 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Child Abandonment, Crossover, Dadtoki, Friends to Lovers, Gen, M/M, Minor Character Death, Shinpachi is aged up by 10 years, Shiroyasha - Freeform, Slow Burn, Soukoku is implied in one chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-02-16 10:48:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18689965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/selenologist/pseuds/selenologist
Summary: Mr. Sakata is your ordinary salaryman, if a severely flawed person. By day, he's slacking off at work, gorging himself on sweets, and reading Shounen JUMP. By night, he's drinking, gambling, and flirting with women in the red light district of Yokohoma. No one could guess he was the infamous Shiroyasha, a mass murderer who escaped justice. After meeting a strange girl, ostensibly abandoned by her father, one thing leads to another until he ends up unconscious and bloody, at the doorstep of the ADA.





	1. I tell you that I live resigned to ennui

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is titled after a line in "Exhaustion", my favourite poem from the real life Chuuya Nakahara. This chapter is titled after a line from his "Autumn Poem." I thought it described Gintoki's personality pretty well.

Saturday morning. It was a healthy spring day, with the warbling white-eyes whistling outside. The remnants of fallen sakura could still be smelled and seen. No one else remained in the office except him. Dazai was meant to help today, but had gone on a particularly long toilet break, and Kunikida was beginning to suspect he had left work. _Well, that's fine, he's not obligated to work on Saturdays, but jeez._ From the next room over, the president was probably sipping tea. Kunikida shut the last window in the office before heaving up a stack of papers, tentatively opening the door.

He was greeted by the unconscious body of a man on the floor.

_Well,_ he thought, _this is going to throw off today's schedule by a few minutes._

The man was in a suit, sprawled across a couple of stairs. Just another drunk salaryman. His silver white hair suggested old age, but looking closely, that couldn't be the case. He was pale, but looked a lot more robust than any middle aged man Kunikida had ever seen (barring Fukuzawa, of course.) And his face was young.

Before he could take a step closer, the suited man stirred, stood up, and looked blearily at Kunikida. Fresh blood still dripped from his nose, and his bruised right eye was eerily bloodshot. Kunikida gulped, but did not let the shock or moment of recognition show on his face. _No, it couldn't be, why is he here, what does he want-_

The man stumbled forward, reaching a hand out, and by instinct, Kunikida deflected it. "Help me," the man said in a sober, clear voice. Kunikida subtly glared him down and the salaryman grabbed him by both shoulders, dripping blood over the papers he was holding. He subtly shook him and repeated those confusing words over and over. "Help me, help me, help me, or she's in trouble..."

It became clear this man was not a threat. "Alright, calm down," Kunikida replied, attempting to move away, but the salaryman only tightened his grip, painfully.

"Gin-san!"

The white haired man slowly turned around. Behind him was another suited man, this time a plain looking, black haired one with rounded glasses. He looked younger, shorter, more slender. He had a graze above his brow and was clearly exhausted, carrying along his shoulder, a ginger haired girl in a middle schooler's seifuku. Kunikida estimated she could be no older than 15. In his other hand, the black haired man carried a paper bag from the local bakery.

The white haired man turned to sit down on the stairs. His black haired colleague opened the bag and distributed a variety of breads among them, some water, and some soy milk. The girl was particularly voracious, but the white haired man was not. "I don't need it," he said. "The brat needs it more. Oi, Kagura, eat up." The young girl shot him a dirty look and punched him playfully in the shoulder. The man punched her back, and the girl giggled.

A familiar fluffy head walked up the stairs. Dazai hummed the tune of some commercial, and looked up to greet Kunikida with a wave.

"Where the hell were you?" he hissed in return.

"I saw three people in need of help and bought them some food from the bakery."

Dazai looked back with a mild smugness.

"Idiot!" the blonde bespectacled man replied. "Do you have any idea who he is?"

"Yes, yes, I know. Shiroyasha. White Demon."

At the sound of his name, the white haired man turned his head around.

"Now listen, I know this probably won't work but it's not for me. I need your help, it's for this brat - Ow, Kagura, that genuinely hurt! It's fine if you throw me out, at least do something for Shinpachi and Kagura."

"Oh, no, no, we won't throw you out! We'll offer you our protection too!" Dazai exclaimed with a cheery smile.

"Dazai!" yelled Kunikida.

"Trust me on this one, Kunikida!" He turned around and laid a hand on his shoulder, then spoke in a sombre tone. "Trust me."

Dazai stepped towards the office door and turned the doorknob, when Kunikida caught his hand. He sighed and dumped the stack of papers into Dazai's arms.

"Fine. You take those down for me then, I'll go to the president."

Dazai nodded and gave his signature sly smile before heading down again. Kunikida turned to the three, who were wiping their mouths clean. He opened the door.

"You three, come on in."


	2. A bone but alive sings a farewell to arms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is named after a line from "A Bone" by Chuuya Nakahara and the novel, "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway. Being dead, but also alive, saying farewell, but also meeting something new or reuniting with something old, laying down your arms so you may take up others ones - I hope you see how this comes through.

Gintoki gingerly sipped from the teacup in his hand.

He had wiped the blood from his nose away. Next to him, Shinpachi was patting a plaster down on his brow.

"Oi, Gin-chan, catch!"

Kagura hurled an ice pack at him, which he only barely managed to grasp.

"Jeez, Kagura!" he yelled. "Are you trying to give me another black eye?"

The girl smiled and sat down between him and Shinpachi.

The president of the ADA cleared his throat. He was a tall man in a pale jade kimono, with silver hair and a stern gaze. Gintoki instinctively gulped and straightened himself up before him.

"First, your names."

They went in order. Sakata Gintoki, Yato Kagura, and Shimura Shinpachi.

"Second, tell me what happened."

The three looked at each other, but Gintoki nodded first. He turned to face Fukuzawa.

* * *

 

The burning in Mr. Sakata's cheeks faded as his vision and gait straightened. His stomach was churning less now, so he could take his eyes off the soaked pavement and look straight ahead. He checked his watch and clicked his tongue in dismay. _Tch. 11PM. I got drunk way too early tonight._ A few droplets fell on his watch face, and he looked up. He could not make out much of the clouds in this darkness, but it was clear they were threatening rain. It was, after all, still winter.

Something sharp approached his eye and Gintoki instinctively jumped out of the way, just in time. It was the edge of someone's umbrella, a purple, pretty frilly one. Underneath it was two ginger pigtails and a short girl in her sailor uniform. A middle schooler. _She didn't even say sorry for nearly taking his eye out; kids these days could be so rude. More importantly,_ Gintoki thought, _it's far too late for children that age to be out._

He watched her turn into an alleyway, and started on his way. But something stopped him, and he backtracked. In that alleyway, he peered down and saw that ginger haired schoolgirl retrieving a melted chocolate bar from a garbage bag. The girl looked up at him with vaguely disdainful eyes.

"Oi, Mister, buy me some food."

"That's awfully blunt of you. You ought to have more respect for your elders."

"Grown men shouldn't be following little girls into dead ends, creep. I saw you follow me here."

"I don't have any money. Salarymen like this old geezer are always broke."

"Okay," said the girl. She unzipped her schoolbag and took out a round satin coinpurse. "Then use my money."

Gintoki sighed. "No, keep it. I'll buy you some food."

He gestured for her to follow him, and they walked uphill. The nearest convenience store was still quite a long way away, and it only seemed further on a deserted night like this. He walked out of the store with two steaming cups of instant ramen, and two bottles of ramune in a white plastic bag. Handing one of each to her, they reclined on the park benches just outside the store, watching the city below them.

The girl ate quickly. Gintoki had hardly started on his noodles when it seemed she'd already downed half of hers.

"Hey, careful, kid. You'll get a stomachache if you eat like that."

"I'm not-" she took a slurp, "As old, (slurp), and fragile, (slurp), as you."

"Don't talk with your mouth full. And I'm not that old." Gintoki took a slurp of his ramen.

"Why the silver hair then?" said the girl.

"I was born that way. My hair colour is less strange than you are though. What the heck are you doing? Like, out here? At this hour?"

The middle schooler paused and gazed ahead at the horizon. "Nothing you can help with. Thanks, old man, but you've done enough."

Gintoki narrowed his eyes and took out his phone. "Oh no you don't, young lady. Tell me everything or I'll call the authorities."

The kid glared at him and finished off her ramen with a loud, spiteful slurp. "Alright."

"Start with the name and age." Gintoki pointed at himself. "Mr. Sakata Gintoki. 27 years old.

"Yato Kagura. 14."

She opened her bottle of ramune with a hint of aggression. Gintoki gulped.

"Good, good, we're getting somewhere," he added with a slight tremble to his voice. "Where are your parents?"

"Mama's dead. Gege's ran away from home. And Baba hasn't come home in weeks."

Gintoki choked on his noodles. After clearing his airways and washing it down with some ramune, he continued. "Weeks?"

"He left me on a business trip."

"Kid, that's a long as business trip."

_Some father he is,_ he thought.

"He left enough food and money for me to get by. And I even got a job."

"What sorta job?" Gintoki asked with a hint of suspicion.

"Gangster."

Gintoki choked on his noodles again, but it wasn't because of this revelation.

It was because of the bullet that had just barely missed Kagura's head.

* * *

 

  
"Oi, driver, step on it, will you!" Gintoki yelled.

"No can do, sir," the taxi driver responded. "I got traffic rules to obey and a license and a job to keep."

The cars behind them were gaining speed. There was a chance they knew which taxi Kagura was in and a chance they didn't, but Mr. Sakata, the mature man he was, had learned only to take chances with gambling money - not with gambling lives.

A little tug on his sleeve pulled him down.

"Gin-chan," Kagura whispered, "Just knock him out and take over the wheel."

"I'm drunk, brat, I can't drive."

"Fine. I'll do it."

"Hey, wait, wait wait wait wait wait wait wait-"

Kagura leaped into the front passenger seat, and with an expert strike to the neck, the driver was out. As the car swerved out of control, Gintoki screeched and leaned forward, shifting the handbrake just in time.

Kagura unbuckled the driver's seatbelt and unceremoniously threw him out the door, before taking his seat.

"Gin-chan, put on your seatbelt. You'll need it."

Just as the driver stirred on the sidewalk, Kagura pedalled them both down the road at a frightening speed. The car moaned in distress as she struggled to keep it within one lane.

"Kagura, are you sure you know how to drive?"

"Shh, stop distracting me, old man, or I'll throw you out too!"

Gintoki gazed at the side mirrors, just as one shattered from a gunshot.

"Where to, old man?" Kagura asked, surprisingly calm.

"We can't drive to my place, or they'll know. We got to lose them some how."

Kagura began to drive in circles. Her driving was a bit smoother now, but still a little too erratic.

"This will give you time to think. But think quickly."

Gintoki took a deep breath, clutching his chest until he could feel his heart slow down. He undid his seatbelt and stepped over into the front passenger seat, buckling himself down again.

"Kagura, I'm trusting you with our lives here - drive us onto the highway. And for god's sake, stay in one lane."

She nodded and swerved them into bigger and bigger streets, and then into the highway. Out of the one rear view mirror that was still good, Gintoki could no longer see the cars that were pursuing them, which was both a good thing and a bad thing.

He sighed again.

"The train station. Get us to Yokohoma Station."

"Can do."

Within a few minutes (and with a lot of petrol expended), Kagura had driven them to Yokohoma Station without killing either of them. They ran up the stairs and around to the other side of the station, then onto the main road. By this time, Gintoki's legs were beginning to feel like jelly, but he felt oddly refreshed.

"Oi, oi, aren't we gonna get a ticket and go somewhere?" asked Kagura.

"No," said Gintoki. "Not on the train."

He held out his arm and signalled the incoming bus over. Whispering something about it being an emergency, the bus driver looked over Kagura's scuffed school uniform with a scowl, but sighed and let them on for free. They took a seat near the back.

Gintoki cleared his throat. "If you have no friends or relatives who can do so, then I'll take you in for tonight. Sorry for the state of my apartment in advance, by the way."

* * *

 

Fukuzawa drank more of his tea and looked up to the ceiling momentarily. Then he directed his gaze to Gintoki again.

"It appears you've been through more than I could've imagined."

Gintoki pressed the ice pack against his eye still.

"So sorry, sir, but there's more."

"Haruno-san," Fukuzawa called to his assistant. She had been sitting besides him, listening with a shocked expression on her face. She blinked and collected herself.

"Get this man some more ice, and refill the teapot, please. And tell Kunikida and Dazai to go home."

Haruno nodded and adjusted her glasses, before leaving.

"Please, do continue," said Fukuzawa.

* * *

 

The day after, it was Saturday. Someone was ringing the doorbell. Gintoki had slept in his suit, not even bothering to take his shoes off. He had slept on his couch, as he had given his bed to the girl. As Gintoki got up, his head pounded, and the faint nausea of a hangover was already beginning to hound him.

He opened the door, to find Shinpachi. The younger man was in a dress shirt and slacks, with his hair neatly combed and glasses polished, a complete reverse of the disheveled Gintoki. He was carrying a box.

"Good afternoon, Gin-san."

"It's afternoon already?"

"Yes, yes. What's wrong with you? You look horrible and you reek of alcohol. Here. I made extra, so I decided to give some to you."

Shinpachi walked in and placed the box down on the coffee table, opening it to reveal dango.

"I'm practicing making them for Hanami. Tell me what you think, okay?"

The bespectacled man turned to leave, before pausing.

"Don't drink so much, okay, Gin-san?"

Gintoki groaned in vague agreement with him, just as Kagura exited his room. She rubbed her eyes and stared at the two.

Shinpachi blinked. "Gin-san, who is this girl? A daughter? Niece? Sister or cousin?"

"Nothing of the sort," Kagura replied. "I'm not related to him at all."

Gintoki facepalmed. Shinpachi stared at Gintoki disapprovingly.

"Going for a girl that young, have you any shame? You're trash, Gin-san."

"Shinpachi, it isn't what it looks like-"

Kagura had walked over to the coffee table and already had one of the dango in her mouth.

"These are delicious! They just need to be a little sweeter."

Shinpachi ignored her. "Explain yourself, Gin-san."

"I found her in an alleyway eating out of a trash can so I bought her some food. She told me her mom's dead, brother's a runaway, and father's disappeared, so she joined the yakuza to make ends meet. She tried to leave so now they're trying to kill her. She has no friends and relatives who could take her in and I couldn't just leave her."

"It's true," said Kagura, her mouth full of dango.

"Then you should have called the police! I'll do it right now!" the bespectacled man yelled.

Kagura caught his hand and shook her head.

"You can't call the police! Because Baba... Baba is not meant to be in this country. That's why he has trouble getting a job and has to go on business trips a lot. If the police find him, he'll get sent back home."

Shinpachi sighed. "So your father's an illegal immigrant. But were you born here?"

Kagura nodded.

"Then there's nothing you need to worry about! They can't deport you if you're a citizen."

"Shinpachi!" Gintoki gripped his shoulder painfully tight. "Listen to me. She has no other relatives in this country. If her dad get's deported, she'll become a ward of the state."

He gulped and bowed his head. His white hair obscured his eyes. "Please, give her a break, won't you?"

Shinpachi stared at him. Then he sighed and stared at the ground.

"Alright. Alright, Gin-san. I trust you."

* * *

 

And so began the painful process of adjusting to life with someone new. The two men, using the address and the key Kagura gave them, visited her house and brought some of her clothes and toiletries. Kagura complained of how his apartment smelled, so Gintoki was forced to clean and launder everything. The apartment was small and cramped, but with a bit of organisation, seemed much more spacious now. Still, it only had one bedroom, so Kagura had to sleep in the closet.

Both of them had to learn how to cook from scratch as buying food for two quickly became expensive, and Shinpachi made much more frequent visits to drop off ingredients and to simply see Kagura. It had become somewhat comforting for all of them to spend an afternoon or two, every week, simply playing video games or board games and cooking with each other.

On weekdays, Gintoki left early in the morning to go to work. He trusted Kagura to draw the blinds, do the dishes, clean up after herself and go to school. When walking to and from school, she had to wear sunglasses, tuck her hair under a cap, wear a cardigan over her uniform, and change the routes she took often. Gintoki didn't want her to be in one spot for too long, so she jumped from shopping mall to shopping mall and from library to library if she wanted to be out after school.

At work, he felt a change coming over him. He worked harder and received more praise and a higher pay, just so he could afford things for Kagura - and not just food and clothing, things she liked, like pickled seaweed, and cute stuffed animals too. He would've worked overtime if he wasn't disheartened at the thought of her returning home to an empty apartment.

Gone were the days of Mr. Sakata arriving late to work or hungover, and of being scolded for slacking off. People in the office whisphered of these new developments, and asked Shinpachi what had come over him. Shinpachi had always been the sober, responsible one of the duo, after all. Was it a girlfriend? A child? A family that had motivated Sakata-san to work so hard? "Well, something like that," was what Shinpachi usually said.

Curiously, this new situation had brought the two closer together. They were already good friends before. Sure, Gintoki could've looked after the girl himself, but Shinpachi just had to walk in on them that day, and he was somewhat comforted to not be alone in sharing this secret. Gintoki drank less these days, and spent many nights walking with Shinpachi down the main street, enjoying meals together, and going window shopping, and asking each other, "Would Kagura like this? Would Kagura like that?" Things the two would've never noticed before came to life. It was a whole new way of looking at the world.

However, Gintoki also found himself, late at night, after Kagura had gone to bed, sharpening knives and buying ammunition for guns he hadn't used for years off the deep web. As the days passed his paranoia grew of when their blissful domesticity would come to an end. He didn't want to ask Kagura for help making an escape plan should the worst ever come to be. She had been through enough. So he catalogued places they could go in his mind and in little scraps of paper in his pocket, hoarded food and extra clothing and hid them in Shinpachi's house (without telling him, of course, and god it was hard considering how fastidious the man was), and rehearsed the battles in his head over and over.

But after the terrifying night was over, his fear of losing those two subsided, as he woke up to see Kagura's face and went to work to see Shinpachi's. They would begin their routines all over again.

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end.

* * *

 

The flying shards of glass barely grazed Kagura's skin as she flipped the wooden coffee table up as a shield. Above her, the lightbulb was shot out. She heard the familiar turn of the doorknob. _Oh no, not now, he really does have the worst timing-_

"I'm home, Kagura!" exclaimed the white haired man, with a smile on his face.

"Gin-chan!" Kagura screamed as she tackled him to the ground. A gunshot was heard. The bullet had barely missed him, hitting the door behind him.

Gintoki breathed heavily and groaned, Kagura still holding onto him. "What the hell?"

"They found us."

He gritted his teeth and got up. The two of them ran out of the apartment, and paused at the elevator. Kagura was about to jab at it's buttons, but Gintoki grabbed her hands.

"Don't. It'll be too easy to trap us there."

He took out his phone and dialed Shinpachi.

"Hello, this is Mr. Shimura speaking. Gin-san?"

"Oi, Shinpachi, we got trouble."

A bullet flew past his shoulder as he pushed Kagura to the side, behind the wall.

"Exactly what sort of trouble are you in?!"

"Calm down."

"I will not! Was that a gunshot? Was that a gunshot I just heard?"

"Shinpachi, you'll be useless to us if you don't calm down," Gintoki said as both he and Kagura began running down the stairs. His voice was stern and steady. "Just drive to the bus stands near Yokohoma Station and wait, okay?"

Gintoki hung up before he could hear Shinpachi's panic. He grabbed Kagura's hand and they ran down the spiral staircase at a faster speed than ever. Both their legs were getting tired, but the staircase provided more escape routes than a closed space like an elevator. At least, this was Gintoki's reasoning until a group of gunmen ran in front of him. _Damn it,_ he thought. _Damn it, damn it, damn it._ It would be suicide to run back up. He gritted his teeth again, before sighing and undoing the buttons on his suit jacket, revealing the concealed guns in his shoulder holster. He pulled a pistol out and fired multiple warning shots between the incoming gunmen's feet. One of the men screamed and collapsed on the ground, clinging at the gunshot wound in his leg. Gintoki swerved around and instinctively pushed Kagura behind him, whipping a man across the head with the end of his pistol, slamming another into a wall and shooting another through the palm. He felt oddly calm and at home in all this madness, moving as if it were second nature. Kagura tugged on his arm.

"Gin-chan, this way!"

She lept and vaulted nimbly over the railings, swinging her legs over and jumping. Kagura landed on the lowest floor with a roll and waved up at him. Gintoki winced in mild jealousy. _Damn youth with their mobility, and damn me for wearing a suit today._ He awkwardly did the same and closed his eyes, bracing for his landing.

It was interrupted as he banged his thigh on the railings on the first floor, falling and landing on his side on the ground floor. Fortunately, he had enough instinct left to shield his skull from impact. Gintoki stood up, shaking, gripping his arm. _Oh boy, that's going to leave a bruise._ As he ran, his thighs protested with a sharp pain. He thanked the universe for at least sparing his balls.

* * *

 

Shinpachi waited anxiously in his car. He slumped his head into his folded arms, wondering what sort of mess Gintoki had gotten himself into now. His mournful reverie was broken by a banging on his window. Kagura. It was Kagura, pounding on his window. Shinpachi unlocked the doors, and Kagura quickly slumped into the back door.

"Kagura? Where's Gintoki?" he asked.

"On his way," she said in an unfazed, almost bored voice.

They were both startled by a loud knock on the window. The tall figure in front of them leaned down. It was a familiar looking albino man, smiling foolishly.

Kagura smirked as he climbed into the back seat.

"You're late, Gin-chan-"

"Shut it, brat."

_Ah-hem._ Shinpachi cleared his throat. "How are you alive, Gintoki?"

"I fired warning shots and beat a few of them up, not enough to kill them, just to scare them off. Then I escaped," replied Gintoki.

"Gin-san," Shinpachi said with a hint of bitterness, as he started up the car and began to drive off. "You're just saying you ran away."

"Yeah, yeah, but come on! We're all alive now, right? Besides, I never want to kill-"

A gunshot pierced the back window. This time, it was Gintoki who pushed Kagura down. He peered up. It was a man who had climbed onto the roof, and was now grinning as he aimed the gun, not at Gintoki, but at Kagura.

"Inoue!" cried Kagura.

The yakuza member fired another shot as Shinpachi screamed. "What's going on back there?"

"Shinpachi!" yelled Gintoki. "Drive as poorly as you can so you can throw this man off!"

"What?! That'll throw us out of the car too! That'll send us to heaven!"

Gintoki shook Kagura. "You know him?"

Kagura nodded. "It's the guy who gave me my job."

The man raised his gun again. Gintoki looked back at her. Without thinking, he pushed the redhead behind him and shot that man between the eyes.

His body made a disgusting thud as it slid off the roof of the car. The window was soaked in blood and what looked like the flesh of his face. Gintoki kept pushing Kagura's head down. "Don't look up, Kagura. Just don't."

That is the night the Shiroyasha reemerged.

* * *

 

"Stop," said Fukuzawa. His gaze lingered over Shinpachi, who was hunched over and shivering, his face gone grey. Both Gintoki and Kagura peered at him, Kagura leaning over to give him a pat on the shoulder. "Haruno, escort this man to a quiet room. Calm him down."

The assistant adjusted her glasses and nodded, and took Shinpachi's hand, guiding him away. As the door to Fukuzawa's office shut, Gintoki gazed back at the middle aged man in the green kimono.

"I've heard enough," the president continued. "I think I can guess what happened from there."

"And what's your guess?" Gintoki replied.

"You killed Inoue. Your distinctive appearance and combat abilities made it obvious who you were. News of your revival spread among Yokohoma's underground, and somewhere along the line, Port Mafia must have decided you were a threat, forcing you to come here whilst still in hiding. Is that correct?"

The albino nodded. "Understandable if you don't want to protect a former criminal."

"The ADA exists for all those who need it, Mr. Sakata. We will provide living quarters for the three of you and untangle your business with Port Mafia, shield you from the interference of the police, and will locate this girl's father."

Gintoki gulped. "Yes, but- Payment. I'm broke. And probably jobless by now. How can I afford this?"

Fukuzawa held his chin and gazed up for a moment. "Then work for us."

"I- what?" Gintoki blinked. "Come again?"

"Your debt will be forgiven once you contribute something that outweighs it. It need not be monetary."

"Wait, wait, pops, I'm not even a gifted, I thought this place was only for-"

"The entrance test will be tomorrow. I'll have Haruno open an apartment for you. Do get some rest."

With that, Fukuzawa stood up and left, leaving Gintoki and Kagura more dumbfounded than before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mama, Baba, and Gege are the Standard Mandarin Chinese words for mother, father, and older brother. Dango are a Japanese confectionary commonly eaten during Hanami, the Japanese custom of observing newly bloomed sakura. It takes place at the beginning of spring, in early April. Ramune is a brand of Japanese soft drinks.


	3. How to avoid losing face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's title is taken from "Exhaustion" by Chuuya Nakahara. Can you tell it's one of my favourites?

That night, Haruno led the three to their apartment. It was plain, bland, and a little dusty, but the electricity and water worked just fine. There was no food in the fridge or any of the usual necessities in the bathroom, so Shinpachi made an emergency run to the supermarkets. (It had to be Shinpachi, because he was the only one who cared about such things, and the only one plain enough to go outside without a disguise.)

He returned, not just with food and toiletries, but with dinner in hand. It was takeaway from the cheap but delicious restaurants that littered Yokohoma's Chinatown, the type that the city's salarymen relied on to get by when they were working overtime. He had remembered everyone's preferences and even gotten them desserts from the Chinese bakery. No one had noticed how quiet he had been since the afternoon in Fukuzawa's office.

After scarfing down their meals and having a duel over who was going to use the bathroom first - Kagura won, by the way, through means of brute force - they cleaned themselves up, laid our their futons, and slept deeply from exhaustion.

By the time they woke up, the sun was already well up in the sky. Gintoki woke before the others and fixed them all a simple breakfast - just eggs on toast, nothing special. Then he dressed himself. As Shinpachi and Kagura were in the middle of eating, the doorbell rang. Gintoki opened the door to find a young girl. She was short, with long black pigtails adorned with white flowers, wearing a red kimono and carrying a flip phone around her neck. She was carrying a large nondescript bag.

"Are you Sakata-san?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, kid, but Gintoki is fine."

She held out the bag for him to take. "These are clothes the ADA asked me to deliver."

Gintoki took the bag and peered momentarily into it. "Wow, thanks."

"I have more news. Kunikida and Dazai want all three of you at the office by 12:30."

He glanced back at the digital clock on the wall. _11:17PM._ "Will do."

Kagura shoved the last remnants of her toast in her mouth and ran towards the door, pushing the older man aside. Her eyes lit up. "Oh my god, the ADA has kids? Hey, what's your name?"

The black haired girl paused, blinking. "Izumi Kyouka."

"Kyouka!" Kagura cried. "I'm Kagura. Yato Kagura. Can we be friends?" She held out her hand, and Kyouka shook it weakly.

"I'm sorry, but I can't talk with you right now. I have some other things to do."

With that, the girl in the red kimono fled down the stairs. Kagura hunched over as Gintoki ruffled her hair. She turned her head towards him.

"Did I scare her away?"

"Now now, I'm sure you'll get to see her again."

* * *

Despite it only being the beginning of spring, the sun was strong that day. It glared through the windows of the ADA office. Gintoki, Shinpachi, and Kagura stood upright in their new clothing. They had thought it would be smart to appear before their prospective employers in the clothing they were gifted, but were now thoroughly regretting their mistake. At least the two men were; Kagura's new sailor fuku, with a black collar and skirt, was a perfect fit for her, but Shinpachi's suit jacket was loose at the shoulders and Gintoki's suit was tight everywhere. He could feel the sweat accumulate under his collar, compounded by the stuffiness of the room and the weather that day.

"Gin-san, are you hot?" asked the black haired man next to him.

"Yeah," he replied, loosening his tie a bit.

"Don't worry, I should be able to take out some of the seams and retailor it for you."

"You can do that, Shinpachi?" Gintoki asked with a tone of surprise. Shinpachi nodded. _Well, he was always the domestic type._

A young ginger haired man opened the door and rushed into the office. He was gangly and pale, with long bangs pinned back on one side, and a red sweater wrapped around his waist. Behind him followed a long black haired girl in the same uniform as Kagura's. 

"Sorry, so sorry, we were late!" the man gasped. "The buses in Yokohama can be so unreliable nowadays."

He pulled out a chair from someone's office cubicle and collapsed into it, catching his breath. The girl with the long black hair walked towards Kagura and leaned down.

"How do you like the uniform?"

Kagura grinned. "It fits!" she said, giving a twirl. "Black is way cooler than blue, too. My actual uniform was blue."

"Good, it's my first-year uniform. It's best if you wear something like it as it has no emblem. Black is also harder to see than blue in a crowd." She cleared her throat. "My name is Tanizaki Naomi, by the way."

"Tanizaki Jun'ichiro," said the man from earlier. He stood up abruptly and paced across the room. "We're workers for the ADA. I'm a detective, she's a clerk."

Taking some paper from another cubicle, he came back and stood in front of them. "Mr. Sakata and Mr. Shinpachi, you two are taking the examination, am I correct?"

"Hey, what about me!" Kagura interjected.

Tanizaki smiled at her. "Sorry, but you're a kid, and we're meant to be protecting you, not making you work for us."

"But- but- you have the girl employed!"

"Oh, you mean Kyouka? She's a special case."

Naomi pulled Kagura away by her shoulders as the latter pouted. "Come on, you can help me work." She turned back at her brother and the two men. "We'll meet you downstairs after you're done, okay?"

Tanizaki shrugged and turned back to Gintoki and Shinpachi. "Alright, just take a seat in any of the office cubicles. You have 45 minutes to finish. Give me your phones and your watches, so I can ensure no cheating. I'll provide the pens for you."

Gintoki chuckled. "Feels a bit like I'm back in high school."

"Ugh," Tanizaki groaned. "At least I won't read some malpractice warning out to you!" 

Flashing him a smirk, Gintoki did as he was told, sitting down in a cubicle. He took off his watch and handed his phone to Tanizaki. As soon as Shinpachi had settled too, Tanizaki called for them to start.

* * *

 

Gintoki and Shinpachi walked down the stairs in silence. Gintoki, in particular, was thinking over the exam questions - not asking himself what he got wrong or what he got right, but what the point of the test was. The questions had been a mixture of riddles, situations meant to test one's character that you'd expect to be asked during a job interview for customer service or something, and most confounding of all - math questions. He was starting to wonder exactly what sort of work the ADA did on a daily basis.

Tanizaki led them to the cafe the downstairs. He swung the door open for them. The place was elegantly furnished in timber, softly lit, and smelled warmly of coffee, chocolate, and a hint of baked desserts.

"Say, does this place sell parfaits?"

"Gin-san," Shinpachi warned, "You musn't. You're a prediabetic."

"Oh please, Shinpachi, just one won't kill me."

"That's what you always-"

They were interrupted by a man's "Hello!"

It was Dazai, with his signature sly smile and his hands in his pockets. He leaned down slightly. "Soooo, how was the test? Easy? Fun? Give you flashbacks to high school?"

"The last one, mainly, yeah," Gintoki responded.

"Dazai," said a stern deep voice. Kunikida adjusted his glasses and rested a hand on Dazai's shoulder. "Don't annoy them too much now."

"Oh, Kunikida, I'm not!" As the two began to squabble in the background, Gintoki walked around the cafe. The smiling waitress called out to him, "A parfait, was it, sir?" He pretended not to hear her as he wandered. There was no sight of either Naomi or Kagura. Dazai snuck up behind him and pat him hard on the back.

"If you're worried, just know we wouldn't let your little girl wander off anywhere. Naomi is probably taking her to a nice outing right now, and trust me, she's too sharp to let anything slip under her."

"Tch." Gintoki clicked his tongue. "And she's gonna blow aaaaall the pocket money I gave her."

Dazai giggled. "Kids, huh? Anyways, there's something else we have to do."

"Go on."

"We expect you to pass, so you might as well meet us properly. Care to spend a day with me and Kunikida?"

Gintoki and Shinpachi looked at each other and both shrugged.

* * *

 

They had only spent a few minutes walking down the main roads of the city when Kunikida's phone rang. Dazai ceased his happy humming to listen in on the call.

"Hello, this is Kunikida of the ADA speaking-"

There was a loud scream from the other end of the line. Gintoki's ears perked up as he leaned in. _That voice. That voice sounded familiar. It was-_

"Kyouka-chan?" Kunikida asked, his voice becoming tense. "Calm down, what's wrong?"

"The bridge. The bridge!"

"You're at the bridge?" Kunikida's eyes darted as nervousness overtook him. He took a deep breath and stilled himself, clenching his fists. "Okay, we're getting there, but what's go-"

"Hello," said another voice at the end of the line. It was a male voice.

"And who are you?" hissed Kunikida, with a dark undertone to his voice.

The voice laughed. "An unhappy customer, Mr. Kunikida," he continued, snarling his name with contempt.

The dial tone played as the line was cut off. The blonde man groaned. "Dazai."

Dazai gazed at Gintoki, with a steely look in his eye. Still, Gintoki could sense a mild undercurrent of mischief in them. "Sorry to ruin your day. Please follow us."

Kunikida hastily hailed a taxi, shoved the money in the driver's face and gave him directions. Dazai had taken dibs on the front, so the other three crowded in the back seats. In a matter of minutes they were at the aforementioned bridge, with the river flowing formidably under it. 

On the fridge was a man - no, a boy - standing behind the railings, with a gun pressed to Kyouka's head. He was short, slender, and squishy in the cheeks still; his face would look awfully innocent if it weren't for the situation he found himself in. He was clad in a white button up shirt, black pants that cut off at the calf, a black tie and a long belt trailing behind him like a tail. Most strikingly, the boy's hair was stark white, with bangs far too long on one side. Kyouka's hands were hidden from view; Gintoki guessed they were tied behind her back, as her ankles were bound with rope. She stood in front of the railings, the boy with a hand around her shoulders to keep her from falling - but should he wish, it would be easy to push her off and see her drown.

"Alright, the ADA gets people like this sometimes. Sometimes we piss people off and they take it out on one of our staff," Kunikida groaned. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "In cases like this, seeing a recognisable ADA member like me or Dazai would only aggravate him." He closed his eyes and waited for a reply from either the white haired or black haired men next to him.

"Oi, you listening?" he asked as he opened his eyes. By the time he had done so, Gintoki had opened the door and dashed across the pavement. Shinpachi followed and gave an anguished "Gin-saaaaan!" as Gintoki dived into the river. The force of the stream downwards was immense. It would take a superhuman or someone with incredible luck to swim upstream. _Or an incredibly foolish man,_  Dazai thought as he chuckled in the front seat.

"This is gonna be hilarious," he muttered.

Shinpachi looked frantically for any hint of silver hair or a charcoal grey suit in the rushing river. He could only hear it roar, when from the other side, he saw Gintoki miraculously arise from the stream. His clothes were soaked and heavy, but the man didn't look any worse for wear. Clearly not exhausted, he bolted up the stairs to the bridge, headed for the boy. Shinpachi cried out in frustration as he broke into a sprint, up the stairs at the other side of the bridge too.

The boy tightened his grip around Kyouka as Gintoki approached.

"Who the heck are you?" he growled.

Gintoki replied by punching him in the face. "Let her go."

The boy seemed shocked and turned his head to spit out some blood. He turned back with a rabid look in his eye.

"You're not an ADA member. Stay out of this."

Gintoki rolled his eyes and spotted Shinpachi running up behind him.

"Shinpachi!" he cried. "Get the girl!"

"What?" cried Shinpachi.

Gintoki punched the boy across the cheek again, this time with enough force to knock both him and Kyouka backwards. In his shock, the boy released his gun. He reached out for it again, as Gintoki stepped down on his hand. The boy screeched and grabbed Gin's ankle, pulling him down. Gintoki's head crashed into the metal railings. He looked up to see the boy panting above him, but a mysterious force seemed to pull him back by the head and neck. The boy screamed and clawed at the invisible being around his neck, before dipping his head down and sinking his teeth into whatever creature was holding him. A familiar voice screamed out. Shinpachi appeared behind the boy, abruptly released his chokehold, and fell backwards. The boy merely pushed him aside as the bespectacled man hunched over to cradle his arm.

During all of this, the bindings had been undone from Kyouka's wrist, but not her feet. As both men recoiled from the shock of their injuries, the boy stood up, having taken hold of Kyouka again. He breathed heavily as he leaned with his back against the railing.

Then, he gave an eerily serene smile as he tipped his head, then his back behind, and fell off the bridge, taking Kyouka with him.

Gintoki's eyes widened as time slowed down. From the corner of his eye, a flurry of black flew by. Shinpachi had jumped off the bridge and wrestled Kyouka from the boy. In a split second, Gintoki followed suit. He leaped off the railings, grabbed the arms of the white haired youth and pulled him into his chest. He hunched his back to shield him from impact as they approached the water. 

When they hit it, the resistance of the river wasn't as ruthless as Gintoki had expected. He quickly swam upwards, approaching the light. Then, a strong force pulled him towards the surface at a frightening speed. He gasped as he finally broke the surface of the water, and in the blink of an eye, his body was touching land again. The white haired boy lifted his head up from his chest and rolled over, coughing. To his side, Shinpachi was already making signs with his fingers to test Kyouka's awareness. Gintoki lowered his head onto the pavement again, waiting until the world would stop spinning. He felt a hazy nausea proliferating in the pit of his stomach. A few minutes later, Kunikida and Dazai stood over them.

"That concludes your entrance exam, Mr. Shimura and Mr. Sakata," Dazai declared with a broad grin, offering his hand to him.

Gintoki blinked. "What the fuck?"

He took Dazai's hand and stood up, and repeated his question. "What the fuck?"

"Oh yes, I must introduce you. Atsushi-kun!" he called. The young boy ran and stood next to Dazai. "This is one of our detectives, Mr. Atsushi Nakajima. He's quite the actor, isn't he?"

"I'm- Uh- I'm so sorry," the boy mumbled. "Pleased to meet you?"

Gintoki remained silent. He cleared his throat, thinking of something to say. "I felt something pull me upwards. What was it?"

"Demon Snow," said a young girl's voice behind him. Kyouka shook the water from the sleeve of her kimono. She gazed up at Gintoki. "I am Atushi's work partner. My ability is Demon Snow. She protects me."

As if to demonstrate, Demon Snow appeared behind the girl, a ghostly mirage in an ornate kimono. She bowed humbly before dissipating.

"My ability is Beast Beneath the Moonlight. I can turn into a tiger. Cats are useless in water though," Atsushi said with a timid chuckle. "I'm sure you'll see it another time."

Kunikida cleared his throat. "That's not the most important thing here. President!"

The president walked out of a shadow shrouded alleyway. _Had he been watching the entire thing?_

"Your verdict?" Kunikida continued.

The president paused. He had a way of commanding people's attention with silence. "Pass."

"Wait," Gintoki said. "What about the paper exam?

"That was a decoy," Dazai answered with a grin. "I must say you gave interesting answers though, Gintoki. I hope you won't be as aggressive in these questions as you are with future customers."

Gintoki gulped as Dazai directed his gaze to Atsushi, who's cheek was swelling up.

"This pair here have demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice themselves," Fukuzawa commented. "I do admit they could do with some more delicacy, but they are now accepted as members of the Armed Detective Agency."

Shinpachi's jaw dropped for a few seconds. Then his face was overtaken by a smile. He beamed and leaped into the air, shouting "Yes!"

"Mr. Shimura!" the president yelled.

"Ah!" He yelped and turned around nervously. "Yes?"

"Unless my eyes deceived me, you turned invisible halfway through the trial. What was that?"

As the president gazed into Shinpachi's eyes, everyone's attention was now directed at him. Gintoki was also curious to hear his explanation.

Shinpachi opened his lips to sigh, then straightened his back and tightened his fists. He steeled himself as he spoke.

"I'm a gifted."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The person Shimura Shinpachi was based off of, Nagakura Shinpachi, was a captain in the Shinsengumi. He wrote a memoir about his experiences. As he was technically an author, I decided to make Shinpachi an ability user in this crossover. Isn't invisibility a very befitting gift for his personality? The name of his ability and the explanation behind it will be revealed in the next chapter.
> 
> Real stuff: This chapter was hard to write. I think my writing became lifeless at the end. I think it's because I'm simply not used to writing things of this length, or of writing so regularly. Once I get in the swing of it, I think my stamina will increase.


	4. The moon wonders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's title and the quote from Gintoki's book of poetry come from "The Moon" by Chuuya Nakahara. Also, to a certain commenter who's been with me since chapter 2, I am very sorry for the lack of Shinpachi in this chapter.

The world was gray today. The sky downcast it's eyes and sobbed. Rain fell upon the metal roofs and solid buildings of Yokohama with such ferocity that it sounded as if it were hailing from inside. It was midday in Gintoki's old apartment. The scent of coffee from the kitchen had dissipated as petrichor weaved it's way in. Kagura, fully dressed in her blue school uniform, laid on her side on Gintoki's couch.

"Oi," the man spoke from the doorway. Despite his best efforts (and a broken umbrella to prove it), he had been drenched in the pouring rain. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

Kagura rolled to turn away from him. "I don't want to go."

"Why not? I told you it's dangerous for you to stay inside here all day."

"The kids make fun of me. My Japanese is so bad, I can't understand the teachers sometimes."

Gintoki made no answer. He went into his room and exited in fresh, dry clothes. Casual ones, this time, it appeared he had gotten an early mark and would not be returning to work that day. He approached the bookshelf in the living room and pulled out an old, tattered notebook.

"Alright. I'll teach you then. First, Japanese is all about vowels. The fifty basic sounds are all based off the five vowels. Repeat after me, a, i, e, u o-"

"A, i, e, u, o," Kagura interrupted. "Ka, ki, ku, ke ko. Sa, shi, su se so. Ta, chi, tsu te, to. Na, ni, nu, ne no."

She looked up at him with a disappointed glare. "I already know all the sounds, and hiragana and katakana, idiot. My Japanese isn't THAT bad."

"Alright, I hear you, kid," Gintoki replied as he rummaged through the bookshelf again. He took out a copy of Shounen JUMP and handed it to her. "So it's kanji you have trouble with, or just not having a large vocabulary in general. Go through this and circle all the words you don't understand. Every night, show them to me and I'll tell you what they mean, got it?"

He turned book to gather some magazines, old newspapers, and an old dusty book. "If you don't like JUMP, I have some other, more respectable things to read. I even have an old book of poetry. You wanna try that?"

By the time Gintoki had turned back around, Kagura was thoroughly engrossed in Shounen JUMP already. He smiled and left the other texts at her side, and went into the kitchen to make lunch.

After he left, Kagura glanced at the old book of poetry. Usually, she wasn't interested in such things, but something about it enchanted her. The poet's language was understated, but not boring. It was a bit hard to follow along, at least for the literal minded who liked to imagine everything making sense in their heads, but something about it moved her. She began to read:

"More solitary than ever tonight, the moon wonders at her doubting foster father..."

By the time Kagura's eyes had gotten tired from reading, she had devoured half the book and the rain outside had ceased. Gintoki had retired to his bedroom. In front of her, he had laid some karaage burgers without her noticing.

* * *

 

Kagura opened her eyes. She lifted her head from her arms and rubbed her eyes. On the desk she was resting on laid a set of cards she had borrowed Naomi's laptop and the clerks' office to print out. It had been a pain to get the floral borders just right. The cards read:

YATO KAGURA. 14 YEARS OLD. MIDDLE SCHOOLER AND HONOURARY ADA MEMBER.

The clerks' office had been so pleasantly warm that she couldn't help falling asleep. She stretched her arms out and arched her back.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Naomi, as she typed away at her laptop.

"Mhm," Kagura mumbled. "I'm gonna go to the cafe."

"Oh!" Naomi exclaimed. "Don't forget to take this."

Kagura peered down and noticed the plastic shopping bag. Inside it was a pack of medical face masks, contact lenses in different colours, glasses and sunglasses, a wig, some makeup, and yet another set of clothing. The two had gone out earlier today, to beauty boutiques, though it wasn't just for fun. Kagura would need to disguise herself when she went out now. Still, she never had the opportunity to adorn her appearance before, so it bemused her like a game of dressup. She muttered a thank you, took the bag, and skipped downstairs.

In the cafe, a redheaded woman with Caucasian features was wiping the benches. Kagura tried not to stare, but she didn't see Westerners often. The woman straightened her back and faced her.

"Welcome," she said.

"Can I have a latte? Medium size, please."

"Of course," the woman answered. She ran behind the bench to start the coffee machine up.

"Uh," Kagura began, "Are you a foreigner?"

"Yep, I'm Lucy. I'm American."

"So I can speak English with you," Kagura replied. She cleared her throat and continued in thickly accented English, "Can you make it a mocha, actually?"

The woman smiled, "Yes, but it'll cost an extra 50 yen."

The bell above the door rang as two men walked in. Lucy finished making her coffee and placed it in front of her. Kagura blew on it too cool it down, and raised the coffee mug to her lips, the conversations of the men behind her drifting into her ears.

"...Tenmatsuki? What sort of name is that?"

"I discovered I had this ability while reading a history book about the Shinsengumi. So, I decided to name it Records of the End. Tenmatsuki."

"As expected, Shinpachi, you were a nerd even as a child."

Kagura accidentally swallowed a scorching gulp of coffee too fast. The waitress rushed to the bench, in front of her.

"What's wrong?"

"I burned myself," Kagura explained, before switching back to English. "Health! Health me!"

Gintoki gently knocked the middle schooler on the back of the head. "It's "help me", Kagura. Waitress, get her some cold water. Oh, and do you sell parfaits? I'd like a chocolate one!"

Gintoki sat down next to Kagura to her left, Shinpachi to her right. The latter man began to speak: "Kagura, big news. I'm a gifted. Gintoki and I aren't just doing clerk work but full detective work now."

Kagura stared at him suspiciously. "Are you hardy enough to be a detective, Shinpachi?"

"Oi!" he yelled. "Don't underestimate me! We passed that scary test of character and all."

She took a sip of her mocha, unimpressed. "What's the ability then?"

"Invisibility."

"Suits your personality."

"Oi!" he cried again. "I don't know how to use it though. I can turn myself and everything I touch invisible, but I can't control it. I suppressed it for years so I don't know how. Whenever I try to use it, if I'm not under pressure ot just lucky, only my body turns invisible."

"Perform your missions naked then," Gintoki said deadpan, digging into his chocolate parfait.

"I can't do anything like that!" the bespectacled man yelled.

Gintoki gazed downwards at the bag in Kagura's lap.

"You didn't spend too much, did you?"

"No, Naomi-chan paid for it."

"Make sure you thank her properly," Gintoki ordered. He held out his hand. "Now give me 600 yen. I need to pay for this parfait."

"No, pay for it yourself, you shitty old man!" Kagura yelled back.

"This old man's wallet is empty! I gave you so much pocket money-"

"I spent it all on food."

Gintoki was speechless. "...Kagura. That was 5000 yen! How much do you eat!"

"The only change I have left," Kagura exclaimed, "Is going towards this coffee!"

Gintoki slammed his face into the bench as Lucy walked over.

"It's okay, sir," she stated. "I'll put it on your tab."

* * *

 

The day after this was a Monday. As the week began, Gintoki was surprised at his hours. He certainly began the day later than he did as a salaryman. Odd, he thought, as he assumed detectives did far more work than mere office workers. But, perhaps it was because he was a novice.

In the morning, he and Shinpachi left for work, whilst Kagura spent her time in the ADA clerks' office or in Fukuzawa's. Or she was at the cafe downstairs. If she browsed the main streets, she'd have to put on a disguise, which whilst was fun the first few times, but quickly became a bother to her. She was forbidden from using her phone except to contact the ADA or emergency services, could not use social media, or contact any of her old friends. (Not that Kagura had many anyway.)

Fukuzawa was a strong believer in the necessity of education and Kunikida had apparently been a former tutor, so she was well supplied with books for self study. Whether she picked them up or not depended on her mood that day. More often than not, she tried to read but was quickly sidetracked by thoughts of where that girl in the red kimono could be, which reminded her that it had been ages since she'd played with a girl her age, which brought her back to remembering how lonely she was.

As for her two caretakers, most of their work was simply typing and filing paperwork, destroying documents, and tagging along with the other members to see how things were done, but really, they relied on the veterans for the meat of the action. On the first day, Gintoki was paired with Yosano (that case ended with the culprit almost soiling his pants out of fear), the second with Ranpo (that case was solved before noon), the third with Tanizaki (who had gotten stuck with a highly unusual case - they were sent to investigate a literal cat burglar, as in, a burglar who stole cats, who despite not hurting humans, made Fukuzawa very furious due to being a cat owner), the fourth with Kunikida and Dazai (who spent most of the day bickering), and finally, the fifth with Atushi.

As his partner walked up to meet him, Gintoki averted his eyes. The bruising on Atsushi's face had healed entirely and the young man smiled gently, and his eyes were clear of any misgivings.

"Shall we go?" he said.

"Uhh," Gintoki stuttered. "Yes."

As they walked down the stairs, out of the office, Gintoki racked his brain for any topic of conversation to take his mind off the whole "I socked this boy hardcore across the face" incident.

"Where's the pigtails girl?"

"Kyouka is taking a break today."

"Nice to see your boss treats you well," Gintoki began. "My last boss said it was a 9 to 5 job but he really made us start at 8 in the morning and end at 8 in the evening."

Atsushi chuckled. "That's horrible. How did you eat and sleep and have time for friends?"

"I didn't," the older man said as he opened the door. "Be thankful, son. You're a young one, how old are you?"

"I'm 18."

"Lucky! I remember my first job as a teen was customer service. I swear, people's politeness goes out the window when you're standing behind the register!"

Within a few minutes, the two men had arrived at where they were supposed to be: the local district's police station. Gintoki had arrived there on Monday with Yosano, where they were greeted by the chief of this particular station. He was a tall, robust man, with tan skin, spiked, slicked back hair, and some stubble, but for his tough appearance, he sure was easily intimidated by the suspect. Yosano pulled most of the weight with questioning them and whilst Gintoki had been too busy scrolling his phone to remember the interview. He only remembered that they found enough reason to arrest the suspect. Now, four days later, the ADA was just here to tie up some loose ends.

Swinging the door open, Atushi approached the front desk. The policeman there had black hair that Gintoki thought was in dire need of a cut. His bangs threatened to obscure his eyes and his hair was growing out of the nape of his neck. Other than that, there was nothing very remarkable about him.

"How may I help you?" the officer asked.

"We're from the ADA," stated Atsushi.

"Ah," he replied knowingly. He stood up and held out his left arm. "It's the room in this aisle, room 15. I'll escort you."

Gintoki and Atsushi followed the cop down the aisle. He unlocked the room with a door that was labeled, "Room 15," and gestured for them to enter. Atsushi and Gintoki took their seats inside the room.

"It was Kondou-san you saw on Monday, am I right?" said the officer.

"Don't remember," Gintoki said. "It was the big guy with the tan. Looked kinda like a gorilla."

"Yes, that would be Kondou-san. I'll find him for you so please wait here."

"There will be no need for that," said another voice. As the officer turned to leave the room, he bumped into another policeman that was already behind him. He had ebony hair, shorter and neater than the first officer, a colder gaze, and a cigarette hanging between his lips. He stood with his legs apart and a powerful posture, looking downwards on Gintoki and Atsushi. Pacing across the room, he stood near the window, taking his cigarette out and exhaling.

"Kondou-san was called for something urgent."

"Eh? What could be more important than-"

"It's the shitty high school brat again. I'll talk to these two. Yamazaki, go back to the front desk."

"Ah, yes, Hijikata-san." With a bow of his head, the first cop, apparently named Yamazaki, walked swiftly out of the room.

Hijikata turned back to look at the two white haired men. Gintoki felt a vague aura of dislike, disapproval, or maybe even outright hatred and anger emanating from his gaze. He hardened himself and stood up straight, looking the officer in the eyes. The officer merely narrowed his. _Just what was this guy's problem?_ Gintoki thought.

"Here are the documents you requested," Atsushi said. He interrupted and lightened the mood, which Gintoki was grateful for, as Hijikata walked over to grab them. Cigarette still in his mouth, the man flipped through them.

Gintoki let the boy handle the talking as he attempted to wipe his mind of the policeman's glare.

* * *

 

Kagura yawned in Fukuzawa's office with a textbook in her hands. She had read this line four times already and it still made no sense to her. She didn't even want to read it anyway, and put the book away. Then she sat back down on the couch and swung her legs, feeling vaguely agitated and mostly bored. She picked up the black cap she had bought the other day, and spun it in her hands.

The doorknob turned. Kyouka walked in carrying a small book with Kunikida standing behind her.

"Good job on today's lesson," the tall man said before walking away.

"Thank you," she replied, walking over to the bookshelf and slipping her book in between some others. As she was about to leave the room, Kagura called to her.

"Um, hi!" she exclaimed.

Kyouka nodded. "Hello. Is there anything you need?"

"I was just wondering, if you have free time, we could go out together!"

Kyouka looked at the clock behind them, then back at Kagura. "Okay."

Kagura beamed as she and Kyouka walked down the stairs together. Before leaving the building, she slipped on the cap. "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere is fine," Kyouka replied. "But I want to eat. I know a restaurant that makes good fried tofu."

"Ooh!" Kagura cried. "Show me!"

Kyouka cracked a mild smile for the first time that Kagura could see. "Of course. Follow me."

As they walked down the street together, Kagura reached into her pocket. She took out a business card out of a stack. "Here," she said, placing it in Kyouka's hand.

Kyouka read the card, then looked up at her. "No need to be so formal. But thank you anyway. It's rather well made."

"Is it?" Kagura asked. "I spent a lot of time on it."

Unbeknownst to either of them, one of the cards had fallen out of Kagura's pocket, onto the streets of Yokohama.

* * *

 

Atsushi stretched his arms and back, then slumped back down again into the park bench. The sun was unusually strong today again. He sighed as he tried to ignore the feeling of sweat from under his shirt. He looked up to see Gintoki holding two strawberry crepes from a nearby vendor.

"Oi, I got you one."

"Oh, thank you," Atsushi replied. "You didn't need to."

"Did you want something else? I could-"

"No, no, it's fine. I like the crepes here," he said, taking a bite. The two men sat side by side, silently eating for a while.

"You know," Gintoki began whilst halfway through finishing his. "I want to apologise for the trial."

Atsushi shook his head. "It's okay. My ability allows me to recover from injuries very quickly. And considering who I was pretending to be and what I was doing, I was prepared for it."

He looked up at the sky. The clouds above him shifted and the world became much brighter. Too bright. Atsushi gasped as he winced and turned his head away. He closed his eyes as they burned.

"Oi, are you okay?" Gintoki asked with concern in his voice. "Come on, let's move to a shady spot."

Before Atsushi could answer, Gintoki grabbed his hand and led him under a tree. They both sat down. It was cooler here, and the light less intense.

"Albinism, huh?" Gintoki said. "I have it too. Look."

He pointed at his eyes as Atsushi laughed.

"Yours look completely red. I'm just partially albinistic; my eyes still have some pigment in them."

"Do you like being an albino?"

Atsushi shrugged. "It's not really something I think about."

"It has it's troubles. I get sunburned in winter and can't drive when the sun's in my face. But I personally really like having white hair. Other people will complain of their hair turning white as they age but I never will."

"I guess so."

Gintoki gobbled down the last bites of his crepe. He rolled the wrapper up into a ball and shot it into the nearest garbage bin.

"Oh!" exclaimed Atsushi. "Nice one!"

"You try, boy."

Atsushi rolled his wrapper into a ball and did the same. It landed too. They high fived each other and sat beneath the tree for a while longer. The silence built up between them. Then Gintoki spoke.

"Sorry if it's intruding, but, what's your backstory?"

"Huh?"

"You're just 18, and you're already working as a detective. That's a lot of work for someone so young."

"Ah," Atsushi started.

"Oh no, you don't have to answer that!" Gintoki added. "If it's too touchy or you just wanna keep it private."

"My parents abandoned me," replied Atsushi. "I was raised in an orphanage, and they expelled me when I became an adult. Then the ADA picked me up."

Gintoki looked down. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Things are okay for me now."

The older man sighed and looked up. The light was dancing through the leaves of the trees. Birds chirped and perched on branches and sung love songs to each other.

"You know, I'm kind of the same," Gintoki said.

"Hmm?"

"I don't know if I was abandoned or orphaned, but I never knew my parents. We lived in the slums of Yokohama, where those with the strongest abilities tore each other apart. None of us were gifteds, so maybe they were defenseless against all that. My earliest memories were of scouring dead bodies in the city's slums for money."

Atsushi was silent.

"A man picked me up, gave me a name, taught me to read, and housed and clothed me along with tens of other kids. Then he was taken away from us."

"I don't know what to say," Atsushi replied. "I'm sorry too. Did you ever find out what happened-"

"I killed him," Gintoki said abruptly. He repeated himself. "I killed him. When he was returned to me. With my own sword. With this right hand." He held out his hand and clenched it into a fist. Atsushi stared as Gintok began to tremble.

"I was such a fool," he continued. "I killed so many people."

"I know," Atsushi said. "Kunikida told me. But so did a few of us. I nearly did the same. If Dazai hadn't found me - I could have. But you can get better."

"You want to know who I killed?"

"Who?"

"Gifteds. I killed gifted people for being gifteds."

* * *

 

After filling their stomachs, the sun was beginning to set on Yokohama city. Kyouka observed this as she exited the restaurant with Kagura.

"Let's go," she said. A beastly gust of wind suddenly blew through them, whisking Kagura's cap off her head.

"Hey!" Kagura cried as it flew high into the sky.

By now, some middle schoolers and high schoolers were coming home from after school activities and some salarymen who had received an early mark were coming home from work. One rush hour was transitioning into another. Kyouka decided it would still be easy for them to blend into the streets but they needed to walk quickly. She stood by the curbside, shielding Kagura from the view of others across the street.

"Stay by me," she said. The two walked in sync, Kagura chatting away about how delicious that fried tofu was.

In a nearby alleyway, a high school student was on his phone. Taking a comb out of his pocket, he gazed at his reflection in the camera and fixed his sandy blonde hair. Over his shoulder, he caught a glimpse of a young girl with ginger hair, walking alongside a black haired one in a red kimono.

Heaving his bookbag over his shoulder, he slipped into the crowd, making sure to walk quietly and keep his distance. He felt his pocket and took out a little piece of paper he had retrieved from the pavement earlier that day. It had a pretty flowery border around it. The small card read:

YATO KAGURA. 14 YEARS OLD. MIDDLE SCHOOLER AND HONOURARY ADA MEMBER.

 _That's her. I'm sure that's her,_ the boy thought, putting the card back into his pocket. He raised his phone again and took a picture of her back, just as Kagura turned her face to speak to Kyouka. Then he got a good shot of her face too.

After doing so, the boy meandered into the nearest alleyway. He dumped his bag on the ground, then crouched down as he stared at the picture he had taken. Cupping his hand over his mouth to contain his excitement, he zoomed in on the picture of Kagura's face as a wide smile spread across his lips, muttering to himself:

"I've finally found you, China girl."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiragana and katakana are two of the writing systems that Japanese uses. Kanji, which are Chinese characters, is the third one. Japanese has fifty basic sounds, though there are more. Karaage is a type of Japanese fried chicken. Nagakura Shinpachi was the historical figure Shimura Shinpachi was based off. He was a captain in the Shinsengumi and wrote a memoir about his experiences, named "Shinsengumi Tenmatsuki" or "Records of the End of the Shinsengumi." I decided to name Shinpachi's ability "Tenmatsuki" or "Records of the End" then.
> 
> Can you guess who the high schooler is at the end, what his motive might be, and which organisation that he has sided with, if any?
> 
> This chapter is the longest one so far. I hit 11k with this! I've also opened a Tumblr blog! My username is @lunengelic. I do post updates about my writing and some fandom stuff on there, so if you want to see how this fanfic is going, please check it out!


	5. Yet how hard it is to shake off my idleness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is named after a line in "Exhaustion" by Chuuya Nakahara.
> 
> Trigger warning for child neglect, an alcoholic parent, and police brutality.

Gintoki woke up with a bitter taste in his mouth, and a tightness in his shoulder. Planting a hand onto the ground to shakily sit himself up, he realised: _Wait, this isn't the softness of a futon._

The room appeared as if it were spinning and he was sure his eyes were terribly bloodshot; they burned with a fury that only an episode of binge drinking was capable of inducing. Squinting at the clock on the wall that said it was 10PM, he muttered an obscenity under his breath and stumbled to his feet. Kunikida was going to kill him and wouldn't accept Mondayitis as an excuse.

"Good morning, Gin-san."

Shinpachi was seated in front of him on the couch. He had already combed his hair flat and ironed his suit earlier in the morning, like he always did.

"Shinpachi," he began to ask. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to wait for you."

Gintoki scoffed and cracked a half hearted laugh. "No need. I'm not sick."

"You looked like you might be."

Gintoki chuckled again. He tensed himself, and with all the balance he could muster, walked to the kitchen and splashed his face with cold water. After filling a glass with tap water, he took a swig.

"Where's Kagura?"

"She left before you woke up, for her lessons with Fukuzawa."

Gintoki sighed. "I woke up to late to see her off."

"It's alright. There's always tomorrow."

"But it's already been two days in a row."

Gintoki walked towards the door.

"No breakfast?" asked the bespectacled man.

"No. Trust me. I'll be fine."

It was the first time in a while that Gintoki had woken up with a hangover on his apartment floor. Shinpachi hoped it would be the last. He was about to be disheartened.

* * *

 

He had always wondered what was Gintoki's motivation for taking Kagura in. In fact, he had always wondered what Gintoki's motivation for doing anything was. As a salaryman, he would come to work late, slack off, and be reprimanded for reading Shounen JUMP or snacking on sweets instead of filing paperwork. He complained endlessly about the long hours, the low pay, and the (admittedly deserved) scoldings he got from superiors. Yet he never quit, and every time the possibility of him being sacked was brought up, Gintoki would go overboard on performing extra work, and proved himself to be amazingly competent when he applied himself. After a while, he'd settled down into the sort of mediocrity most workers did, hiding both his unprofessional habits (JUMP and sweets addiction included) and his brilliance in one go.

Shinpachi watched him from his cubicle in the back row, most of the time in contempt at his laziness, and other times with a vague sense of unease. The bursts of genius that Gintoki was prone to seemed less to be simple bumps in motivation or productivity, but a glimmer of the true nature that the white haired man fought hard to conceal under his sly smile. There were moments when he could've swore Gintoki seemed much more observant than most people took him for... But then he would mess up and get yelled at, and such suspicions were dispensed.

His most recent spate of behaviours were most confounding. More than a month had passed since they'd joined the ADA. Winter had given way entirely to spring in full bloom. And yet there was no news on the whereabouts of Kagura's father.

Kagura herself showed no distress about it. When questioned, she simply replied, "My dad's strong so I know he'll be okay!" or something along those lines. If something was bothering her, she seemed to be dealing with it quite well by filling her days with outings alongside Kyouka, and Shinpachi decided to desist and allow her to come to him if she wanted to say something.

But Gintoki. He had taken to drinking one, then two more drinks than usual every Friday night, and then drinking on every day of the week. He was more loud and boisterous than usual, embracing Shinpachi in a tight hug as he went on drunken rambles. Under the effects of alcohol, he'd wake up later each day, until he missed his chances to send Kagura off in the morning, leaving Shinpachi to make Kagura's breakfast and send her off himself. Then he would complain of not having seen her, only to paradoxically work overtime and head to the bar after the ADA closed, instead of seeing her come back in to the apartment.

On more than one occasion, Shinpachi observed a dull look in her eyes when she came back home, which he somehow instinctively knew that he could not correct. She spent more nights having sleepovers in Atsushi's and Kyouka's apartment, but he also knew this arrangement wouldn't last.

The first time she said she was going to a sleepover, she had returned just before sunset with sweat beading her forehead. Kagura panted and collapsed on the sofa as Shinpachi poured her some water with ice.

"I was - (pant) - running - (pant) - to catch the train!"

Shinpachi nodded. "Now now, catch your breath and drink."

The girl looked around the room instead. "Where's Gin-chan?"

He furrowed his brow and looked down as he answered. "Working overtime. Again."

"Oh." 

Kagura took her drink and downed it fast, before going into her room to change. In the time it took for her to have a brisk shower, Shinpachi readied them a simple, humble dinner: miso soup, tamagoyaki, and grilled fish with rice. When Kagura had sat down, she reached for the tamagoyaki first, dipped it in a bit of soy sauce, and took a bite.

"How is it?" Shinpachi asked.

"Not the way Gin-chan would make it."

"Ah, he uses a lot of sugar, so his tamagoyaki is sweet. But be careful, too much sugar isn't healthy to-"

Shinpachi dropped his sentence as he saw Kagura's downcast face. They ate their dinner in silence.

Whilst Shinpachi cleaned the dishes and laid out everyone's futons, Kagura rolled her's back up. Stuffing it into the closet, she mumbled that she was staying over at Kyouka's. Sleeping in their bedroom alone that night (Gintoki did not come home; he was found sleeping on a bench in a public park the next morning), Shinpachi struggled to suppress the emotions bubbling to his consciousness. Anger, resentment, regret, and most of all, disappointment in himself, for being unable to fulfill the roles of two men at once. Curiously, a yearning for Gintoki's presence, his body besides his, even if it included the scent of blood or alcohol, arose to the surface of his mind. And with that, a sense of abandonment. 

He turned over and tried to see Gintoki in his empty futon, dozing away with the smile on his face that he'd come to find charming. The yearning grew stronger. _Comforted? Am I comforted by this man's presence? And am I discomforted when he - when he leaves?_   Scared of where these thoughts might lead him, Shinpachi swiftly turned back around, screwed his eyes shut, and prayed to fall asleep quickly.

* * *

 

The day proceeded in a way Shinpachi had expected, but had wished to avoid. They conducted their usual scouts for intel around Yokohama, their usual questioning of people, and investigations into the identity of Kagura's father. And as usual, nothing came up. They already knew that Kagura's father was an illegal immigrant, and this made investigations rather difficult, as showing people his name or his photo ran the risk of making him identifiable to the police. Moreover, there wasn't that much information that even Kagura herself could give about her father. Evidently, the man had not paid attention to her very well.

Gintoki had started the day out with a feeble smile on his face, but it slowly denigrated as defeat after defeat piled up. By the end of the day, Shinpachi checked his watch.

"Gin-san, Kagura should be home around this time."

Gintoki stood up without facing him.

"Sorry, Shinpachi, I'm going out drinking again."

Shinpachi sighed. 

* * *

The bar was loud, crowded and sweaty. Shinpachi found himself wedged against Gintoki's side - on his right were a group of other drunk men, and on his left was Gintoki. The white haired man's cheeks were profoundly flushed, and his voice and coordination getting more unsteady by the minute. And his temper.

Gintoki had found himself in a drinking match with Fukuzawa. He suggested the latter to join some members of the ADA at drinking, to celebrate the end of the working week. Fukuzawa reluctantly accepted. Now, Dazai was crying into Kunikida's shoulder about the time he got dumped when he was 16, Atsushi was looking for a place to throw up (it was his first time drinking and he overestimated himself), and Kenji was engulfing the communal peanuts rather than drinking. Shinpachi wondered why the latter two had even come. But then he'd have to wonder, _Oh hell, why did I come?_

_Gintoki, to look over Gintoki._

It started when Fukuzawa ordered some sake when everyone else was ordering Western drinks. Gintoki, seated next to Fukuzawa, ordered some sake too. For some reason, this set off a competitive vibe between the two.

"Hey, Fukuzawa-san, why do you wear that kimono in this day and age?" asked the younger man.

"Because I find it more graceful than Western clothing," he answered, taking a sip.

"Eeeeh?" Gintoki replied curiously. "Don't you trip over it or get it dirty often?"

"It's arguably easier to move in than a suit. They make office workers look like monotonous drones or soldiers anyway. I dislike them."

"So do the office workers."

"But you aren't an office worker anyway."

"Oh?" Gintoki blinked in confusion. "I'm not? I work in your office."

"I mean, you're not a salaryman anymore. You're a rounin."

Gintoki chucked loudly and slapped Fukuzawa's back. "I guess you are right. Unfortunately, I was never a samurai in the first place. I don't have the personality of a knight."

Fukuzawa paused for a moment. "You mean you don't have the demeanour of one. Most people would assume you were too stupid to handle a sword and armour."

Shinpachi startled. Gintoki had gotten drunk a long, long time ago, but it was out of character for Fukuzawa to speak without a filter. The president did not seem obviously intoxicated, however, when Shinpachi looked at the amount of drinks by both men's sides, he began to sweat. "

"Oi!" Gintoki yelled in reply. He stood up and gazed down at Fukuzawa. "What was that! I can handle a sword at least! I once beat someone in with a wooden sword, a wooden one!"

Fukuzawa stood up to look Gintoki in the eye. "Oh yeah, brat? I killed people with a real sword!"

"That's lame! Metal swords are cliche and overdone. Wooden swords are heavier, so clearly I'm the better swordsman!"

"Better hope you've practiced, young man!" Fukuzawa shouted, reaching at his hip. However, no sword could be found on his person. He promptly sat back down.

"It appears I've forgotten my sword."

"Forgotten? I hope you don't usually bring a sword into bars, hoping to cut people up."

"Let's settle this in the next best way." Fukuzawa raised his glass. Shinpachi lowered his face into his hands. Pleading would be useless at this stage, believe him, he'd tried. All that was left was to deal with the fallout later.

The fallout was that Fukuzawa was rushed to hospital after the drinking match when he collapsed and Gintoki had gone missing.

* * *

 

Kagura leaned against the wall in the cramped alleyway. The smell of garbage filled her nose as she tried her best to filter it out. Her stomach was cramping badly, as if the acids were burning themselves out, from a lack of food. Pulling her hand out of the trash, she had managed to retrieve a relatively intact chocolate bar. The downside was that some clear liquid of things she didn't know and didn't want to know had brushed onto her arm.

Someone held out a handkerchief for her. It was Kyouka. Kagura yelped and fell backwards.

"If you needed to eat, you could've had fried tofu with me again," said Kyouka.

Kagura wiped the mysterious substance off her arm and stood up, folding the handkerchief meticulously so none of the dirty sides were exposed, before handing it back to her friend

Her foster father's voice was instantly recognisable. It was clear, even through the slightly open window of the bar. He sounded... Happy. Kagura leaned on the tips of her toes and saw inside the window.

Gintoki's face was flushed with alcohol, giving him a healthy glow in contrast to the sedentary, sleep deprived lifestyle he usually led. He was chatting away with the others at the ADA, chuckling and hugging the others. Kagura turned back around, feeling a pit at the bottom of her stomach. Too dejected to even cry.

"You can-" Kyouka began. "You can stay with me tonight again."

* * *

 

Gintoki woke up with a pounding headache. He got up, and almost immediately, found the urge to throw up. Stumbling to the nearest wall, he leaned over the garbage can and expelled the contents of his stomach. Which for some reason included an iPod shuffle. Shrugging it off, he tried to walk down the street to assess his surroundings. His right ankle wasn't cooperating. He found himself walking with a strange limp. Alongside his disheveled appearance, this stance must've caused bypassers to think he were delirious.

He felt that this place was completely unfamiliar to him. He knew that he was on the sidewalk, by a street, in a major city. But this did not look like any part of Yokohama he had been in before. He could not make out words from the people walking past him. And the characters on street signs looked as if they could be kanji or kana, but not entirely. 

The phone in his suit jacket rung. Gintoki shakily unlocked his phone. "Hello?"

"Gin-san!" Shinpachi shrieked. "Where the hell are you!"

"I don't know. I can't read."

"How drunk are you still?"

Gintoki snapped a photo of his surroundings and sent it to Shinpachi.

The man on the other end of the line screamed in frustration.

"You're in fucking Korea."

"I'm in Korea," repeated Gintoki. "Last night, I'm pretty sure I was in Japan."

"You were in Japan," Shinpachi affirmed.

"Now I'm in Korea."

Shinpachi groaned again, before sighing and raising his voice.

"You get your ASS back to Yokohama RIGHT NOW-"

Gintoki's phone battery died at that instant. He shrugged and muttered to himself, "Might as well do some sightseeing."

He approached a young man and asked him where the nearest hotel was. Perhaps he was disgusted by his smell or by his appearance, but the man merely backed away and left. He approached a young lady this time with the same question. The woman replied, "I do not speak Japanese."

_Okay. This might be a problem._

* * *

 

In the end, Fukuzawa paid for his trip back home. Gintoki had spent all the money he had on himself on a hotel room for one night, a public shower, a coin operated washing machine, and a thorough dry cleaning for his suit. He was grateful to be smelling fresh and had sobered up significantly by the time his plane landed.

At the airport's exit, he spotted Shinpachi, and gave him a grin. He took a step towards him and felt as though he might faint. Gintoki had barely eaten or drunk anything on the plane, but had spent an inordinate time puking his guts out. His sleep had not been restful, but full of vague nightmares and disturbing images. Still, Shinpachi made no sign of affect. It was difficult to see the emotions behind his coke bottle glasses. The bespectacled man stayed motionless and allowed Gintoki to stumble towards him, before finally catching his hands. Gintoki relished in the warmth and softness before Shinpachi spoke.

"Gin-san, this way," he said, as he led Gintoki outside and to the cab waiting for them. There were no welcome homes or I missed yous. He let go of Gintoki's hand as he opened up the back door, getting into the front seat away from him. For the rest of the trip home, the two did not speak to each other.

The air in their apartment smelled vaguely of smoke. Going through his recharged phone, it appeared there had been a fire in uptown Yokohama, and the smoke had drifted down. It was dawn, and the room was watercolour yellow, all flowing and indiscreet. The curtains fluttered and gently brushed the windowpane, yet the cold wind arriving could not cut through the thick air of tension in the room. Gintoki parted his lips and gulped as Shinpachi poured him a glass of cold water from the tap, as he had done many mornings before. Gintoki trembled and raised the glass to his lip, gulping, though nothing could dispel the tightness in his throat. After finishing his glass, he slammed it down on the countertop and hurried towards the door.

"Wait!" shouted Shinpachi, grabbing onto his shoulder.

"I need to go," said Gintoki hastily. "I need to find her father."

Shinpachi gripped Gintoki's arm with all his might and turned him around, pushing him against the wall. He planted his hands firmly on each shoulder to trap him in place as he stared earnestly into Gintoki's red and bloodshot eyes, before shaking and lowering his head.

"Please. You don't need to."

"Of course I need to."

"Stop drinking. Stop running away."

"Alright, I will," replied Gintoki. He was being insincere, he knew, but he just wanted to pry the black haired man's hands off him, though the more he struggled, the tighter they remained.

"She doesn't need it."

"She? Who?" asked Gintoki, confused.

"Kagura," spoke Shinpachi, his voice cracking. "She needs you. We will care about her father when we find him, right now she needs the father she has now."

Shinpachi's hands shook as they dug into Gintoki's flesh, and he did not raise his head. Gintoki took one of his hands and removed them gently, squeezing them reassuringly, as his face softened and he smiled in a way that was uncharacteristic of him - slow, tender, and mild.

"Alright," said Gintoki.

At that moment, the doorknob turned as Kagura entered. The two men separated, Shinpachi blushing noticeably as he mumbled a "Welcome home." She was still wearing her pajamas and carrying a large bag, heavy with toiletries, with her hair unbrushed. She looked up and met Gintoki's eyes, who took a step forward.

"I'm sorry-" he began, before he was cut off.

"I don't want to hear it," the young girl said, in a cold and steely voice.

"Kagura-"

"Leave me alone." She sulked over to the couch and laid down on it, curling up and facing away from Gintoki.

"But that's now what you want, is it?" Gintoki enquired, as he kneeled down besides the couch.

"I don't care!" screamed Kagura, sitting up and trying her hardest to tear into the fabric of the couch. "I've had enough of you, who's never here, who'd rather be out drinking, who thinks you know how I feel!" She threw a pillow across the room; it landed harmlessly on the ground. Shinpachi silently picked it up and fluffed it, to have something to occupy himself with. He dared not to approach the two, not out of fear, but because it seemed to be something they must solve on their own. As much as his heart cried out, he could not interfere - he could have all the time in the world to dry their tears afterwards.

"No. It's me who didn't care. You do care. And I'm sorry for not realising it sooner."

Kagura stared at him dumbstruck, eyes searing with anger, looking for a retort. Gintoki broke his gaze with her and cleared his throat, before standing up. "I'll get breakfast ready."

The doorbell rang. Shinpachi jumped a bit, mildly startled, and answered it speedily. "Hello?"

Outside were Atsushi and Kyouka, both having been dressed with obvious haste - Atsushi was still fiddling with his tie - and looking concerned.

"We heard-" Atsushi began, "A loud noise. Yelling."

"Is Kagura okay?" asked Kyouka calmly.

Shinpachi nodded. "Yes."

Kyouka peered over the door to see the kitchen, which Shinpachi did not try to prevent her from doing. Kagura had relaxed somewhat and was staring at the countertop, slumped over in her chair, awaiting breakfast as made by Gintoki. He'd always been the better cook between him and Shinpachi. Shinpachi smiled. He somehow knew that it was all going to be okay.

* * *

 

The day finally passed along as Shinpachi had hoped. All three of them cleaned and dressed themselves and headed to the ADA office, Kagura departing for her morning lessons with Kunikida or Fukuzawa, Shinpachi and Gintoki for their cubicles. They would see each other and chat and bicker during breaks, and get more to eat and drink from the bakery or the cafe (though Shinpachi had to constantly ask Gintoki to mind his blood sugar levels.) Often times, Kagura in her disguise would go window shopping with Kyouka, increasingly joined by Atsushi when his workload was thinner. The end of the first day was perfect. So was the one after, and the one after, again and again. The domestic routine these three had had in Gintoki's old apartment seemed to have been revived.

One morning, while Kagura was being tutored in maths by Kunikida in the floor above them, someone came knocking on the ADA office. Shinpachi was filing paperwork, Gintoki was typing away at a laptop, Kagura was leaning over him and chatting away, and Atsushi was the only one free, so he answered the door. In came a tall policeman, with black hair and a familiar gaze.

Atsushi smiled out of politeness. "You are Hijikata-san, right? We have the report you asked us for over-"

"That's now what I'm here for," the man replied. He strode past Atsushi and stood behind Kagura and Gintoki.

"You there, Miss."

Kagura turned around and pouted. "What is it, Mr. Policeman?" 

"Oi, be more polite to your elders."

Kagura stuck his tongue out at him.

"You know why I'm here," Hijikata continued.

"No, no, I honestly don't," Kagura said, her mind whirring with all the times she littered in public or spray painted graffiti saying "Fuck the police" on walls. Which one had she finally been caught out for? Would they be lenient considering she was still young?

Hijikata rolled his eyes. "Miss Yato Kagura, you went missing a while ago. Someone reported your absence to us, and with that, your reappearing presence around this part of Yokohama. We have a record of you but no records of your family. For the time being, you will become a ward of the state. Please come with us and we'll find someone to take care of you temporarily."

"You can't!" Atsushi shouted. He straightened himself up and looked Hijikata in the eye. "The ADA is already in the business of finding her father. We have been looking after her and it's better if she stays with us. You'd prefer that, right, Kagura?"

He turned to face her and she nodded, and they both looked back at the policeman. Hijikata sneered.

"You think your lot are adequate to look after her? Tell me who's doing it."

"We are," announced Shinpachi. He walked over to Gintoki and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, you," Hijikata said, with a sudden dangerous undertone to his voice. His gaze hardened as some buried anxiety burned inside Gintoki, who's face stayed professionally stoic. He stood up and met the policeman's eye. Hijikata leaned in further and said, "I know who you are."

With that, Gintoki felt as if his knees would buckle. Still, he kept straight and stared right ahead.

"You think you can look after this girl? Someone like you, with your history, has no hope of-"

Gintoki gritted his teeth and formed his hand into a fist, but before he had hardly raised his arm, received a blow to his stomach. Calling out, he crashed against his desk and clutched himself, looking up at Hijikata with a ferocious glare.

"Ooh, scary," he replied, leaning down and tugging on Gintoki's hair and inching close to his lips. "Don't try to pull that sort of shit again, Shiroyasha." With that, he released Gintoki and strode over to take Kagura's arm, who jerked against him and groaned.

"You can't!" Atsushi repeated. "The police force-"

"Is meant to cooperate with the ADA and not to interfere with them, yes, I know," said Hijikata. "The ADA is also not meant to interfere with the police. And we have authority now to take this into our own hands. Do not interfere, boy, or do you not want to see this orphan settled happily?"

Atsushi froze, a cold rage burning in his eyes. His fists trembled, as did his voice, as he spoke again with a mild hiss. "What did you say?"

"I am not an orphan!" screamed Kagura! "My father might be alive somewhere!"

"Yeah, yeah, well, we'll learn that later, better start preparing for the worst case scenario, missy." Hijikata paused at the doorway, Kagura still struggling against his grip. He turned around partially.

"Quite honestly, I hate dealing with you lot. All members have judicial immunity and this organisation is, how do I put it, well known for accepting criminals who would otherwise be condemned based on ideals like redemption or reformation. You, Shiroyasha, would've been put down a while ago otherwise. And you, tiger kitten - Atsushi, was it? - I heard you'd caused some damage before they leashed you. And your partner, that little girl who's usually in a red kimono, she was a real nasty piece of work.  Just don't forget who you are."

Hijikata closed the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was hard for me to write. I started this Ao3 account and began writing to assuage some grief over losing someone close to me. However, I didn't let myself grieve properly and became quite ill. I hope you'll accept this as an apology for the long amount of time between chapter 4 and chapter 5.
> 
> Tamagoyaki is a kind of Japanese omelette made by rolling layers of eggs and sometimes other ingredients over each other.
> 
> A rounin is a samurai without a master. In modern day Japanese slang, it means a salaryman who has been fired. I made Gintoki a fired salaryman in this fic solely to make this joke, as Gintoki from his original canon is a rounin.


End file.
